(Newser)
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China's worst cold snap in 28 years has frozen coastal areas and left 1,000 ships stranded in the ice, according to state news outlets. An average temperature of about 25 degrees Fahrenheit since last month has frozen 180 square miles in Laizhou Bay in eastern China, trapping the ships. The weather also snarled more than 140 flights in the central Hunan province, and heavy snow forced officials to close parts of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, the Daily Mail reports.

"I didn't expect such a situation, so I've brought no warm coats or food," said a truck driver trapped in a 3-mile traffic jam in the southeastern Jiangxi province. "All I can do now is wait." But he would have fared worse in the northeast, where temperatures plummeted to a numbing 5 Fahrenheit.